Continuous coiler



July 11, 1961 Filed April 6, 1959 c. o. BRUESTLE 2,991,956

CONTINUOUS COILER 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

CARL 0. 560mm? y 1961 c. o. BRUESTLE 2,991,956

CONTINUOUS COILER Filed April 6, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Ticy.

INVENTOR. 64m 0 58059715 BYSSEKLb/OQGL} ATTOIQA/EKS' 2,991,956 CONTINUOUS COILER Carl 0. Bruestle, Metuchen, N.J., assignor to Syncro Machine Company, Perth Amboy, NJ., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Apr. 6, 1959, Ser. No. 804,279 7 Claims. (Cl. 242-82) This invention consists of a machine for continuously coiling wire as it comes from preceding processing equipment, such as for example a wire drawing machine.

The prime object of the invention is to provide a machine by means of which the wire can be coiled continuously which in effect means that the coiler runs continuously and does not have to be stopped to remove the coils as they are completed.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a coiling machine of this type in which the drum corresponding to the capstan of the usual coiling machine is stationary, and means is provided for wrapping the wire onto this drum and for scooping it from it for delivery to the coiling station, in this case a container.

An important object of this invention is to provide a coiling machine of this type which is extremely simple in construction and has a minimum of moving parts.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a machine which will deliver finished coils into a protective container which could be used for storage and transportation of the finished product.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for interrupting the feed of the wire to the receiving container without stopping the machine when a filled container is to be replaced by an empty one.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine which delivers the finished coils successively in transversely displaced relation in a circumferential path around a center point of reference.

Other and more detailed objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the embodiment of the machine illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical, central, cross-sectional view of the continuous coiler of this invention with some parts in elevation;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIGURE 3 is a diagrammatic and schematic illustration explanatory of the operation of the machine;

FGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 1; and

FIGURE 5 is a top plan view of the Wire receiving container illustrating the manner in which the successive coils are laterally displaced in succession around a center point which may include, as shown, a center post forming part of the container.

Wire coiling machines have many uses, including the major use of receiving wire from the last die of a drawing machine and forming it into coils on the capstan block provided for that purpose. When a coil of the required number of turns has been completed it is necessary, in the usual wire drawing machine, to stop the coiler section so that the finished coil can be removed. This means that the wire drawing machine must be stopped, necessitating the time consuming operation of starting it again.

Obviously under such circumstances it is highly desirable to provide a coiler which can run continuously and need not be stopped each time a coil of predetermined size has been formed. The machine herein disclosed has such characteristics. The manner of accomplishing these desirable results will be best understood from a detailed description of the machine itself.

rates Patent 0 Patented July 11, 1961 'As illustrated in the drawings the machine includes a frame in the form of a housing 10, supported on a suitable base 16. The housing has an opening at one side which is closed by a hinged cover 12 having an inspection window 1 4 through which the operation of the machine may be observed. The hinged cover 12 closes off the upper half of the opening, leaving the lower half 20, FIG. 1, uncovered so that the wire receptacle or container 22 can be passed therethrough and placed against positioning stops 24 to insure its correct association with the incoming wire. The container 22 is preferably provided, as shown, with a center post 23, which terminates just short of the top of the container. When the container is full of wire and has been removed from the machine, as will be explained in more detail later, it can be provided with a cover so as to provide a transportable package which protects the product during transportation.

The housing 10 has an upwardly extending enclosure 26, which forms a chamber 28, to which access may be had through a removable coverplate 30 at the side. The chamber 28 is closed at the top by a removable cap 32, on which is journaled, on a horizontal axis, an idler sheave 34.

The tubular shaft 36 is journaled for rotation on a vertical axis in a pair of suitable ball bearing assemblies 40 and 42, mounted in the housing 10-26. The upper end of the shaft passes through a felt seal 38, mounted in the cover 32. Secured to the shaft 36 is a driven bevel gear 44, which meshes with a driving bevel gear 46, both of which lie within the chamber 28. The bevel gear 26 is mounted on the end of a horizontal drive shaft 48, which is journaled in the suitable ball bearing assemblies 50 and 52, mounted in a lateral extension of the housing structure 26. The shaft 48 passes through a felt seal 54. Supported concentrically with the shaft 36 is a fixed drum 55 having a lip 51 lying in a plane to receive the wire from the pulley 60.

Secured to the lower end of the shaft 36 is a drum 56, which has a radial support arm 58, on which is journaled an idler pulley 60. Secured to the drum 56 by means of brackets 64, is a substantially semicircular tube 62, which is a section of a helix, as diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 3. Formed integrally of the drum 56 is a bracket 66 on which is journaled an idler sheave 68. The working diameter of this sheave is such that its periphery lies on the center of rotation of the shaft 36.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, there is illustrated a ring 74 which has a pair of diametrically aligned wings 71 by means of which it is bolted to the housing 10. Concentric with the ring 74 which is fixed, is a rotatable ring 76, which is supported for rotation on the ring 74 by means of a series of steel balls 78 held within complementary grooves on the upper and lower faces of the rings 74 and 76 respectively. The ring 76 is held against vertical displacement by means of a snap ring 80. Secured on the inner circumference of the ring 76 is a sleeve 82. This sleeve is secured to the ring 76 by means of snap catches which cooperate with the lugs 77, see FIG. 4, on the ring 76. In turn secured on the inner surface of the sleeve 82, is a ring 84.

Secured to the ring 84 is a disc 86, having an aperture 88 defined by a lip, as clearly shown in FIG. 1. The diameter of this aperture coincides closely with the diameter of the drum 55, and when rotated, distributes the convolutions in a laterally displaced arrangement around the center post 23 of the container 22. This distribution comes about by the fact that, as clearly shown in FIG. 4, the aperture 88 is laterally displaced with respect to the vertical central axis of the machine, and particularly of the shaft 36. The lip defining this aperture serves as a guide for the wire to effect this distribution, as will be e p ined in more detail l er.

Telescoped concentrically within the sleeve 82 is a shorter sleeve 90 which is supported on the fixed ring 74 by means of machine screws 100 cooperating with a flange on the sleeve 90. The blocks 92 act as spacers so that the sleeve 90 which is stationary will be held free of the rotating assembly comprising the ring 76 and the sleeve 82 and the guide disc 86 mounted thereon.

Within a suitable casing on the side of the housing 110 is a motor and reduction drive assembly 110, of any suitable and commercially available form, having a driving pulley 112 which is connected by a belt 114 with the pulley groove on the circumference of the ring 76.

Referring to FIG. 4, there are two vertical stub shafts 116 and 118 journaled in suitable sleeves forming part of the ring brackets 71. Secured to the lower ends of these shafts respectively are a pair of blades 12% and 122. Secured to the upper ends of these shafts respectively are short lever arms 124 and 126 which are pivotally connected by means of the links 128 and 130 respectively with crank arms 132 and 134, secured to a shaft 136. This shaft is rotatably mounted in the housing and is provided with an operating handle 138 exteriorly of the housing.

In the operation of this machine shaft 48 is revolving and as a result the vertical tubular shaft 36 is caused to rotate on a fixed vertical axis at constant speed. This causes the two idler pulleys 60 and 68 to revolve about the axis of rotation of the shaft 36. The wire W coming from the source, such as the last die of a wire drawing machine, passes under tension across the top of the guide pulley 34 and down through the shaft 36, thence around the idler pulley 68 and from there through an opening 57 in the side of the rotating drum 56 to and around the idler pulley 60. As this pulley has a planetary motion around the fixed drum 55, it rolls the wire onto the fixed drum just inside of its lip 51, see FIG. 1. Since the wire is under tension it is wrapped tightly around the drum between the lip and the preceding turn, forcing the single multi-turn layer of wire WL to move upwardly on the surface of the fixed drum 55.

The guide pipe 62, which can be termed a scoop, is likewise traveling around and close to the surface of the fixed drum 55. As a result it scoops up the wire so to speak, moving around it to remove the successive turns of the wire WL from the upper end while the lower is being replenished as described above from its lower end. The result is that the wire W is forced out of the other end of the pipe adjacent the bracket 64, FIG. 1, and moves downwardly through the guide opening 88 in the disc 86. As is clear from FIG. 4, the center C of the guide opening 88 is offset from the central axis C of the machine, that is the axis of rotation of the shaft 36. Thus the center C of the opening 88 travels in a circle around the center C. The rate of rotation of the ring '76 which supports the guide disc 86 can be varied but is substantially slower than the rate of rotation of the rotatable support 56, and hence of the scoop '62.

The result is that the wire W is guided into a series of convolutions which are successively shifting transversely with respect to each other in a circular path around the center of the container 22, which center is on the axis C of the machine. The number of convolutions in what may be termed a single layer of the package will vary, depending upon the relative speeds of rotation of the ring 86 and the rotatable member 56.

To further understand the operation of the machine, the progression of formation of the wire into convolutions will be traced in FIG. 5. Starting at the point A for the turn T, the wire will be laid in a direction counterclockwise to and through the point B, and thence back to the point A. This represents a single convolution of the coil and is mathematically in the form of a cardioid. The next convolution progresses from the point A to the point A to form the point T which can be traced through the point B back to the point A. From thence the wire progresses to the point A and then through the convolution T through the point B" back to the point A. Each convolution is in the form of a cardioid with its apex represented by the points A, A and A, gradually progressing in a circle around the center of the container or the center of the center post 23 of the container. This lateral shifting in a circumferential path continues until the apices of the forming cardioids get back to what has been assumed the starting point A, whereupon what may be termed a single layer of convolutions has been formed. With reference to the rotating guiding aperture 88, this represents one revolution thereof, so that if the rotatable member 56 is rotating ten times as fast as the guide opening 88, a single layer of wire in the package will be composed of ten cardioidal convolutions.

It will be understood, of course, that the relative speeds of rotation of the member 56 and the guide plate 86 can be varied, depending upon the density of the package desired, since the more convolutions there are in a socalled layer of the package, the denser it will be.

An important feature of this invention is found in the fact that the machine need not be shut down to remove a full container 22. When the container has been filled to substantially the top with such convolutions, the operator swings the handle 138 in a clockwise direction (viewed from the bottom end of shaft 136), swinging the blades and 122 from the full line position shown in FIG. 4 to the dotted line position shown therein. The coils being formed at this time are temporarily deposited on these blades. The operator withdraws the full container 22 through the opening 20 of the machine and quickly replaces it with an empty container which he positions against the indexing stops 24. He then pulls the crank handle 138 forward, that is in a counterclockwise direction swinging the blades 120 and 122 back to the position shown in FIG. 4. The few convolutions that have collected thereon during this short period then drop down into the container and the machine proceeds to fill it. Thus, it will be seen how it is possible to run the coiler continuously and yet produce the finished packages of wire of the required wire content. These containers 22 are suitable for storage and transportation and can be provided with covers, not shown, which can be locked on to protect the wire during handling, storage and transportation.

From the above description it will be seen that this machine, although rather complex in the manner in which it guides the wire into the package, is structurally simple and has no finely adjusted mechanism requiring fine con trol and synchronization. For any given speed of the shaft 36 the only adjustment possible is that of the relative speed of the guide disc 86, which can be controlled by adjusting the speed of its driving mechanism 110.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the details of this invention are subject to considerable variation without departing from the novel scope of the combination herein disclosed. By way of one example, it is apparent that the ring 76 could be driven through suitable adjustable speed transmission mechanism from the main shaft 48 of the machine without changing its basic operation. It is intended, therefore, that the example herein illustrated be accepted as exemplary and that the scope of protection aiforded hereby be determined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A strand coiling machine comprising a fixed drum for supporting a multi-turn single layer of a strand to be coiled, rotatable means including an arcuate tubular member moving close to the surface of said drum for simultaneously removing said turns successively from one end of said layer and wrapping the strand on said drum at the other end of said layer, and means for guiding the strand into a package comprising superposed layers consisting of a plurality of convolutions.

2. In the combination of claim 1, said simultaneous 5 removing and wrapping means being rotatably mounted on the axis of said drum.

3. In the combination of claim 1, said first means causing said layer to slide axially on the surface of said drum.

4. In the combination of claim 1, said tubular member being a section of a helix for scooping the wire from said drum.

5. In the combination of claim 1, said last means comprising a rotatable guide.

6. In the combination of claim 1, said last means comprising a disc rotating on the axis of said drum and having an eccentric guide opening.

7. In the combination of claim 1, said last means comprising a rotatable guide having a circular opening the center of which is displaced laterally of the center of rotation of said guide.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,121,480 Connelly Dec. 15, 1914 2,743,066 Crum Apr. 24, 1956 2,847,171 Keesee Aug. 12, 1958 2,849,195 Richardson et al Aug. 26, 1958 2,868,474 Lewis Jan. 13, 1959 2,886,258 Haugwitz May 12, 1959 

